[Dixielandjazz] Edison and co.

[TBW504 at aol.com]

An except from The Song for Me which might be of interest:
BRIEF HISTORY OF RECORDING TECHNIQUES
1817:  Léon Scott recorded  sound on a smoke blackened cylinder in France but 
there was no way to play it  back.
1877: Thomas Edison makes successful recordings with his phonograph on  
tinfoil wrapped round a rotating cylinder, and later refined the process by  using 
wax coated cylinders. These were hill and dale recordings - the groove  moved 
up and down, not side to side as later. Copies were not able to be made at  
first.   
1886: Alexander Graham Bell's wax cylinder graphophone is  of better quality 
than the Edison machine and more practical.
1887:  The  flat disk was demonstrated by Emile Berliner with lateral 
movement in a groove  of constant depth. This, the gramophone, was demonstrably 
superior to both  Edison's and Bell's devices. Berliner was later also able to make 
shellac copies  from his wax masters and was thus able to mass produce 
copies, marking the birth  of the recording industry. Inherent surface noise was a 
problem and a limited  dynamic range (difference between the quietest and 
loudest recorded signals) but  considering the relatively primitive equipment the 
frequency response although  somewhat restricted, was surprisingly good. This 
would be of some significance  in the history of recorded jazz. 
1889:  A Danish inventor, Valdemar  Poulsen, patented a magnetic recording 
device that employed steel wire. However,  it was only suitable for voice 
recording since the technique produced an  inherent distortion. 
1913: Production of wax cylinder machines cease  completely.
1920:  Electric recordings began to replace the earlier  acoustic technique, 
due to the thermionic valve and amplifier resulting from the  work of Lee De 
Forest.   
1925: The big two of America's recording  industry had adopted the Western 
Electric process, resulting in better frequency  response and wider dynamic 
range. 
1927:  First U.S. patent issued for  magnetic tape recording. 
1933:  A 78 rpm stereo recording was  demonstrated, some 25 years before it 
became a practical and commercial  proposition. In the mid-1930s the first iron 
oxide coated plastic tape was used  for recording in Germany. 1945: At the 
end of the war in Europe the victorious  Allies were able to appropriate the 
German's ability to make good quality  magnetic tape recordings by using a bias 
frequency to exploit the linear part of  the hysteresis curve. Take my word for 
it: I used to be a recording engineer.  
1948: Briefly, the first two micro-groove vinyl recordings were produced;  
one of 12 inches diameter running at 331/3 rpm, and the other a 7 inch disk  
running at 45 rpm. There was also a "talking-book" recording process using 16  
rpm that never really took off. The vinyl LP would end the 3 to 5 minute maximum 
 duration of the standard 78 rpm record and would in future allow jazz 
artists to  expand their creativity. Vinyl represented an improvement over shellac 
in terms  of surface noise but was subject to static electricity charges that 
could cause  extraneous noise through dust and debris particles. The dynamic 
range was  greatly improved, as were the frequency range and fidelity. Many a 
prized LP  however was ruined by careless handing and storage. Transistors were 
invented at  Bell Labs in 1948 introducing the age of miniaturisation. 
1958: Stereo  recording and reproduction in high fidelity became both 
technically feasible and  affordable. 
1962: The eight track stereo cartridge had a brief vogue in the  U.S. and to 
some extent in Europe, but its inability to fast forward or rewind  led to its 
rapid demise in favour of the compact cassette. 
1963:   Philips launch their C60 audio compact cassette which became the most 
successful  recording medium with annual sales of 2 billion blank tapes and 
one billion  pre-recorded tapes. 
1969: Philips began working towards a compact disk  system (eventually 
marketed to the public by Philips and Sony in 1982) read by a  laser that would be 
virtually indestructible and be capable of carrying over 70  minutes of music. 
The CD would end the reign of the vinyl LP after more than 20  years. Gone 
forever was the risk of a brittle 78 rpm shellac disk cracking or a  
static-ridden LP warping and subsequently skipping grooves. You may gather that  the CD 
meets with my approval, although I regret the passing of that minor  art-form, 
the LP sleeve and its notes. 
1973: Quadraphonic LPs are produced  but public acceptance is less than 
enthusiastic. 
1976: VHS system of home  video tape recording introduced, eventually 
displacing the technically superior  Betamax. 
1978: Digital recording techniques represent a decisive advantage  over 
analogue recording methods and become widespread. Professional DAT (digital  audio 
tape) recordings were introduced in the 1970s although domestic use did  not 
arrive until the late-1980s. 
1990: The minidisk, a compact form of the  CD that was home recordable, 
became available, together with digital audio tape,  and digital compact cassette, 
although in the main their use was largely by  professionals. 
1996: Blank recordable CDs and the recording hardware were  introduced 
although at a considerable purchase price. 
1997: The distribution  of CD-quality sound via the Internet becomes feasible 
within a year or two.  Albums coming on a credit card size solid state device 
are predicted - see  below.
1998: CD writers have become readily available for use in conjunction  of 
home personal computers enabling the recording of CD-quality sound and  pictures: 
a complete two hour movie on one disk. 
1999: The last months of  1998 saw the announcement of "frictionless" (i.e. 
no moving parts) recording:  Instead of disks or tape, a microchip is able to 
store up to 77 minutes of  CD-quality music. Used in conjunction with MP-3 
(MPEG-1, Layer 3) - a way of  compressing hi-fi audio files to one tenth of their 
normal size - it becomes  perfectly possible to distribute music digitally via 
the Internet. Whether or  not one would want to do this is a moot point, 
however. 
2000: Optical discs:  a new media known as FMD-ROM (fluorescent multi-layer 
discs). Like CDs a burner  produces pits in a clear substrate which are filled 
with fluorescent material.  When read with a laser the pits fluoresce. The 
clever bit is that dozens of  layers can be produced, each one equivalent to a 
conventional DVD (Digital Video  Disk). The storage space becomes phenomenal. 
Where will it end? Better leave  some room for the next innovation. Watch this 
space! 
2001: the arrival in  Britain of recordable DVDs  2002 WMA (Windows Media 
Audio) arrives: better  quality than MP3 at half the file size.   
2004: One for John R.T.  Davies, though sadly his death in the same year 
prevented him from possibly  using the facility - particle physicists in 
California have used light sensors  designed to track sub-atomic particles to copy old 
records without making  physical contact and thus avoiding wear and damage. 
The technique also allows  the reproductions of broken or cracked records 
impossible to play with a  conventional stylus. 
2005: Economies of scale bring affordable DVD recorders  for home use, though 
there are rival formats. Double layer DVDs allow up to 8  hours of high 
quality video per disk. One of Britain's largest electrical stores  announces it 
will no longer carry VHS machines. Sic transit gloria!   
2006: Solid state devices the size of a postage stamp and the thickness of a  
5p coin able to store up to a massive 4 Gigabytes, spell the end of the  
conventional film camera, superseded by digital cameras able to store pictures  
and sound. 
2007: I acquired a mobile (cell) phone incorporating a camera,  plus a memory 
card storing 1GB measuring 1.5 x 1 centimetre and about a  millimetre thick. 
Incredible!
 
Brian Wood